Exploration will probably begin this year to gauge if the
archipelago contains enough oil to be commercially viable,
Dorsett said in a statement yesterday. Oil estimates from the
exploration are expected to be available by late 2014 and a
national referendum would be held prior to any drilling or
development, he said.

“Exploration drilling is of course the only way the
Bahamian people will be able to get a scientific answer to the
burning question as to whether petroleum reserves even exist in
commercial quantities in our waters,” Dorsett said. “The
discovery of oil in The Bahamas would almost certainly prove to
be economically transformative for our nation for many
generations to come.”

Government debt rose to 53 percent of gross domestic
product last year from 32 percent in 2007, according to a
December report by Moody’s Investor Services. The largely
tourism-based economy located southeast of Florida contracted at
an average rate of 0.8 percent between 2007 and 2011 and
unemployment remains close to 15 percent, according to Moody’s.